‘He is risen!’ – part 7

“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (Jn 1:18)

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Col 1:15-18)

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3)

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen 1:26)

In what ways are we made in God’s image? God obviously did not create us exactly like Himself because God has no physical body (Jn 4:24). Instead, we are reflections of God’s glory. God gave to human beings the image in which He was to appear visibly to them (Gen 18:1,2) and the form that His Son would one day assume (Luke 1:35; Phil 2:7; Heb 10:5). That human beings were made in the image of God does not mean they are divine. They have been created on a lower order and are dependent on God. (Ps 8:5).

Conclusion
God communicated through various people in the Old Testament, usually prophets who were told to give specific messages. But no one ever saw God. “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father” is a title showing that Jesus is both God and the Father’s unique Son. In Christ, God revealed his nature and essence in a way that could be seen and touched. In Christ, God became a man who lived on earth. This discourse on the divine nature of Christ would be further discussed later under the heading CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

The General Significance And Importance Of Christ’s Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a historical event, whereby Jesus came back from physical death to newness of life with a glorified body, never to die again. The bodily resurrection of Jesus is one of the central tenets of the Christian faith. His bodily resurrection validates the claim that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. It substantiates the proposition that Jesus life and death were not just the life and death of a good man, but that He indeed was God incarnate and that by His death we have forgiveness of sin. The resurrection of Christ is the centre of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Jesus is one of the central truths of the gospel (1 Cor 15:1-8). It proves He is the Son of God (John 10:17-18; Rom 1:4). It guarantees the efficacy of His redemptive death (Rom 6:4; 1 Cor 15:17). It verifies the truth of Scripture (Ps 16:10; Luke 24:44-47; Acts 2:31). It is proof of future judgment on the wicked (Acts 17:30-31).